Tunable smart materials

Researchers demonstrate tunable microparticles that can assemble into larger structures based on the content of attached chemical groups, which may lead to the development of smart sensors or self-healing materials.

Big breakthrough for 'massless' energy storage

Researchers have produced a structural battery that performs ten times better than all previous versions. It contains carbon fibre that serves simultaneously as an electrode, conductor, and load-bearing material.

Building tough synthetic nanomaterials with DNA nanotechnology

Engineers use DNA nanotechnology to create highly resilient synthetic nanoparticle-based materials that can be processed through conventional nanofabrication methods; new technique should lead to significant advances in mechanics, electronics, plasmonics, photonics, superconductivity, and energy materials.

Looking at optical Fano resonances under a new light

Scientists advance understanding of optical Fano resonances and show new ways to manipulate light with metamaterials.

A new dye shakes up solar cells

Scientists have developed a new dye for solar cells that enables high power-conversion efficiency while being simple and cheap to make. The dye also works exceptionally well under low-light conditions, which is key for self- and low-powered devices.

Researchers tailor the interactions of electrons in van der Waals heterostructures

Researchers have tailored the mutual interaction of electrons in an atomically thin solid by simply covering it with a crystal featuring hand-picked lattice dynamics.

Nano-mapping phase transitions in electronic materials

Scientists have combined two powerful, cutting-edge techniques to uncover the physics behind an exotic phase transition that turns a metal into an insulator. The materials they looked at are rare-earth nickelates, which are of great interest for innovating new approaches in electronics.